Nowata Methodists Podcast

“In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.” - Matthew 21:18-19

This week we finish the 21st chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. In this part of the chapter we go over Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree, how the priests & elders questioned Jesus’ authority, and the parable of the two sons.

In this reading, the Lord turns the evil intended against his people back on the people who intended them harm. Yesterday we saw this take place towards Haman. Today it is towards many more. The psalms pick up there, with themes of the wretchedness of humanity, aligned against God as it is. Yet we know that God works all things for the good of those who love him. He is righteous and will save us from all our foes, especially our own selves!

Esther 8

That same day King Xerxes awarded Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai entered the king’s presence because Esther had revealed his relation to her.

The king removed the signet ring he had recovered from Haman and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed Mordecai over the estate of Haman.

And once again, Esther addressed the king. She fell at his feet weeping and begged him to revoke the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews.

The king extended the gold scepter toward Esther, and she arose and stood before the king.

“If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if I have found favor in his sight, and the matter seems proper to the king, and I am pleasing in his sight, may an order be written to revoke the letters that the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.

For how could I bear to see the disaster that would befall my people? How could I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”

So King Xerxes said to Esther the Queen and Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther, and he was hanged on the gallows because he attacked the Jews.

Now you may write in the king’s name as you please regarding the Jews, and seal it with the royal signet ring. For a decree that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked.”

At once the royal scribes were summoned, and on the twenty-third day of the third month (the month of Sivan ), they recorded all of Mordecai’s orders to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and princes of the 127 provinces from India to Cush —writing to each province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.

Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes and sealed it with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers riding on swift horses bred from the royal mares.

By these letters the king permitted the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province hostile to them, including women and children, and to plunder their possessions.

The single day appointed throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued in every province and published to all the people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

The couriers rode out in haste on their royal horses, pressed on by the command of the king. And the edict was also issued in the citadel of Susa.

Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal garments of blue and white, with a large gold crown and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.

For the Jews it was a time of light and gladness, of joy and honor.

In every province and every city, wherever the king’s edict and decree reached, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many of the people of the land themselves became Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.

Esther 9

On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the king’s command and edict were to be executed. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but their plan was overturned and the Jews overpowered those who hated them.

In each of the provinces of King Xerxes, the Jews assembled in their cities to attack those who sought to harm them. No man could withstand them, because the fear of them had fallen upon all peoples.

And all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and the king’s administrators helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen upon them.

For Mordecai exercised great power in the palace, and his fame spread throughout the provinces as he became more and more powerful.

The Jews put all their enemies to the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did as they pleased to those who hated them.

In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men, including Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha.

They killed these ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

On that day the number of those killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king,

who said to Queen Esther, “In the citadel of Susa the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men, including Haman’s ten sons. What have they done in the rest of the royal provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given to you. And what further do you request? It will be fulfilled.”

Esther replied, “If it pleases the king, may the Jews in Susa also have tomorrow to carry out today’s edict, and may the bodies of Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.”

So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman.

On the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, the Jews in Susa came together again and put to death three hundred men there, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

The rest of the Jews in the royal provinces also assembled to defend themselves and rid themselves of their enemies. They killed 75,000 who hated them, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

This was done on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested, making it a day of feasting and joy.

The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and the fourteenth days of the month. So they rested on the fifteenth day, making it a day of feasting and joy.

This is why the rural Jews, who live in the villages, observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting. It is a holiday for sending gifts to one another.

Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Xerxes, both near and far,

to establish among them an annual celebration on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar

as the days on which the Jews gained rest from their enemies and the month in which their sorrow turned to joy and their mourning into a holiday. He wrote that these were to be days of feasting and joy, of sending gifts to one another and to the poor.

So the Jews agreed to continue the custom they had started, as Mordecai had written to them.

For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the Pur (that is, the lot) to crush and destroy them.

But when it came before the king, he commanded by letter that the wicked scheme which Haman had devised against the Jews should come back upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

Therefore these days are called Purim, from the word Pur.

Because of all the instructions in this letter, and because of all they had seen and experienced,

the Jews bound themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should not fail to celebrate these two days at the appointed time each and every year, according to their regulation.

These days should be remembered and celebrated by every generation, family, province, and city, so that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, nor should the memory of them fade from their descendants.

So Queen Esther daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim.

And Mordecai sent letters with words of peace and truth to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Xerxes,

in order to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed time, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established them and had committed themselves and their descendants to the times of fasting and lamentation.

So Esther’s decree confirmed these regulations about Purim, which were written into the record.

Esther 10

Now King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the land, even to its farthest shores.

And all of Mordecai’s powerful and magnificent accomplishments, together with the full account of the greatness to which the king had raised him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia?

For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews and highly favored by his many kinsmen, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his countrymen.

Psalm 12

Help, O LORD, for the godly are no more;

the faithful have vanished from among men.

They lie to one another;

they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.

May the LORD cut off all flattering lips

and every boastful tongue.

They say, “With our tongues we will prevail.

We own our lips—who can be our master?”

“For the cause of the oppressed

and for the groaning of the needy,

I will now arise,” says the LORD.

“I will bring safety to him who yearns.”

The words of the LORD are flawless,

like silver refined in a furnace,

like gold purified sevenfold.

You, O LORD, will keep us;

You will forever guard us from this generation.

The wicked wander freely,

and vileness is exalted among men.

Psalm 14

The fool says in his heart,

“There is no God.”

They are corrupt; their acts are vile.

There is no one who does good.

The LORD looks down from heaven

upon the sons of men

to see if any understand,

if any seek God.

All have turned away,

they have together become corrupt;

there is no one who does good,

not even one.

Will the workers of iniquity never learn?

They devour my people like bread;

they refuse to call upon the LORD.

There they are, overwhelmed with dread,

for God is in the company of the righteous.

You sinners frustrate the plans of the oppressed,

yet the LORD is their shelter.

Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come from Zion!

When the LORD restores His captive people,

let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad!

Psalm 15

O LORD, who may abide in Your tent?

Who may dwell on Your holy mountain?

He who walks with integrity

and practices righteousness,

who speaks the truth from his heart,

who has no slander on his tongue,

who does no harm to his neighbor,

who casts no scorn on his friend,

who despises the vile

but honors those who fear the LORD,

who does not revise a costly oath,

who lends his money without interest

and refuses a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things

will never be shaken.

Esther is a seemingly simple story of a beautiful young woman who is put in a position to save her people. In a time of resurgent anti-Jewish sympathy in the West, it is important to remember that the distinctive way of the Jews has always been hated by the world.

Esther 1

This is what happened in the days of Xerxes, who reigned over 127 provinces from India to Cush. In those days King Xerxes sat on his royal throne in the citadel of Susa.

In the third year of his reign, Xerxes held a feast for all his officials and servants. The military leaders of Persia and Media were there, along with the nobles and princes of the provinces.

And for a full 180 days he displayed the glorious riches of his kingdom and the magnificent splendor of his greatness.

At the end of this time, in the garden court of the royal palace, the king held a seven-day feast for all the people in the citadel of Susa, from the least to the greatest.

Hangings of white and blue linen were fastened with cords of fine white and purple material to silver rings on the marble pillars. Gold and silver couches were arranged on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and other costly stones.

Beverages were served in an array of goblets of gold, each with a different design, and the royal wine flowed freely, according to the king’s bounty.

By order of the king, no limit was placed on the drinking, and every official of his household was to serve each man whatever he desired.

Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Xerxes.

On the seventh day, when the king’s heart was merry with wine, he ordered the seven eunuchs who served him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas—

to bring Queen Vashti before him, wearing her royal crown, to display her beauty to the people and officials. For she was beautiful to behold.

Queen Vashti, however, refused to come at the king’s command brought by his eunuchs. And the king became furious, and his anger burned within him.

Then the king consulted the wise men who knew the times, for it was customary for him to confer with the experts in law and justice.

His closest advisors were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media who had personal access to the king and ranked highest in the kingdom.

“According to law,” he asked, “what should be done with Queen Vashti, since she refused to obey the command of King Xerxes delivered by the eunuchs?”

And in the presence of the king and his princes, Memucan replied, “Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king, but all the princes and the peoples in all the provinces of King Xerxes.

For the conduct of the queen will become known to all women, causing them to despise their husbands and say, ‘King Xerxes ordered Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she did not come.’

This very day the noble women of Persia and Media who have heard about the queen’s conduct will say the same thing to all the king’s officials, resulting in much contempt and wrath.

So if it pleases the king, let him issue a royal decree, and let it be recorded in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti shall never again enter the presence of King Xerxes, and that her royal position shall be given to a woman better than she.

The edict the king issues will be heard throughout his vast kingdom—and so all women, from the least to the greatest, will honor their husbands.”

The king and his princes were pleased with this counsel; so the king did as Memucan had advised.

He sent letters to all the provinces of the kingdom, to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, proclaiming that every man should be master of his own household.

Esther 2

Some time later, when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done, and what had been decreed against her.

Then the king’s attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king,

and let the king appoint commissioners in each province of his kingdom to assemble all the beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the women, and let them be given beauty treatments.

Then let the young woman who pleases the king become queen in place of Vashti.”

This suggestion pleased the king, and he acted accordingly.

Now there was at the citadel of Susa a Jewish man from the tribe of Benjamin named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish.

He had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon among those taken captive with Jeconiah king of Judah.

And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah (that is, Esther), the daughter of his uncle, because she did not have a father or mother. The young woman was lovely in form and appearance, and when her father and mother had died, Mordecai had taken her in as his own daughter.

When the king’s command and edict had been proclaimed, many young women gathered at the citadel of Susa under the care of Hegai. Esther was also taken to the palace and placed under the care of Hegai, the custodian of the women.

And the young woman pleased him and obtained his favor, so he quickly provided her with beauty treatments and the special diet. He assigned to her seven select maidservants from the palace and transferred her with them to the best place in the harem.

Esther did not reveal her people or her lineage, because Mordecai had instructed her not to do so.

And every day Mordecai would walk back and forth in front of the court of the harem to learn about Esther’s welfare and what was happening to her.

In the twelve months before her turn to go to King Xerxes, the harem regulation required each young woman to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months, and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months.

When the young woman would go to the king, she was given whatever she requested to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace.

She would go there in the evening, and in the morning she would return to a second harem under the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch in charge of the concubines. She would not return to the king unless he delighted in her and summoned her by name.

Now Esther was the daughter of Abihail, the uncle from whom Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter. And when it was her turn to go to the king, she did not ask for anything except what Hegai, the king’s trusted official in charge of the harem, had advised. And Esther found favor in the eyes of everyone who saw her.

She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she found grace and favor in his sight more than all of the other virgins. So he placed the royal crown upon her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.

Then the king held a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his officials and servants. He proclaimed a tax holiday in the provinces and gave gifts worthy of the king’s bounty.

When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate.

Esther still had not revealed her lineage or her people, just as Mordecai had instructed. She obeyed Mordecai’s command, as she had done under his care.

In those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the entrance, grew angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.

When Mordecai learned of the plot, he reported it to Queen Esther, and she informed the king on Mordecai’s behalf.

After the report had been investigated and verified, both officials were hanged on the gallows. And all this was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king.

Esther 3

After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him to a position above all the princes who were with him.

All the royal servants at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, because the king had commanded that this be done for him. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage.

Then the royal servants at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the command of the king?”

Day after day they warned him, but he would not comply. So they reported it to Haman to see whether Mordecai’s behavior would be tolerated, since he had told them he was a Jew.

When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or pay him homage, he was filled with rage.

And when he learned the identity of Mordecai’s people, he scorned the notion of laying hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he sought to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the kingdom of Xerxes.

In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, the Pur (that is, the lot) was cast before Haman to determine a day and month. And the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

Then Haman informed King Xerxes, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples of every province of your kingdom. Their laws are different from everyone else’s, and they do not obey the king’s laws. So it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.

If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will deposit ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury to pay those who carry it out.”

So the king removed the signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.

“Keep your money,” said the king to Haman. “These people are given to you to do with them as you please.”

On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were summoned and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded the royal satraps, the governors of each province, and the officials of each people, in the script of each province and the language of every people. It was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the royal signet ring.

And the letters were sent by couriers to each of the royal provinces with the order to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—and to plunder their possessions on a single day, the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month.

A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued in every province and published to all the people, so that they would be ready on that day.

The couriers left, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was in confusion.

Esther 4

When Mordecai learned of all that had happened, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.

But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering that gate.

In every province to which the king’s command and edict came, there was great mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

When Esther’s maidens and eunuchs came and told her about Mordecai, the queen was overcome with distress. She sent clothes for Mordecai to wear instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.

Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs appointed to her, and she dispatched him to Mordecai to learn what was troubling him and why.

So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square in front of the king’s gate,

and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury in order to destroy the Jews.

Mordecai also gave Hathach a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for the destruction of the Jews, to show and explain to Esther, urging her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead before him for her people.

So Hathach went back and relayed Mordecai’s response to Esther.

Then Esther spoke to Hathach and instructed him to tell Mordecai,

“All the royal officials and the people of the king’s provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned—that he be put to death. Only if the king extends the gold scepter may that person live. But I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the past thirty days.”

When Esther’s words were relayed to Mordecai, he sent back to her this reply: “Do not imagine that because you are in the king’s palace you alone will escape the fate of all the Jews.

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows if perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:

“Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!”

So Mordecai went and did all that Esther had instructed him.

Esther 5

On the third day, Esther put on her royal attire and stood in the inner court of the palace across from the king’s quarters. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the royal courtroom, facing the entrance.

As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she found favor in his sight. The king extended the gold scepter in his hand toward Esther, and she approached and touched the tip of the scepter.

“What is it, Queen Esther?” the king inquired. “What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given to you.”

“If it pleases the king,” Esther replied, “may the king and Haman come today to the banquet I have prepared for the king.”

“Hurry,” commanded the king, “and bring Haman, so we can do as Esther has requested.”

So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

And as they drank their wine, the king said to Esther, “What is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be fulfilled.”

Esther replied, “This is my petition and my request:

If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, may the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.”

That day Haman went out full of joy and glad of heart. At the king’s gate, however, he saw Mordecai, who did not rise or tremble in fear at his presence. And Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai.

Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. And calling for his friends and his wife Zeresh,

Haman recounted to them his glorious wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored and promoted him over the other officials and servants.

“What is more,” Haman added, “Queen Esther invited no one but me to join the king at the banquet she prepared, and I am invited back tomorrow along with the king.

Yet none of this satisfies me as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, “Have them build a gallows fifty cubits high, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself.”

The advice pleased Haman, and he had the gallows constructed.

Esther 6

That night sleep escaped the king; so he ordered the Book of Records, the Chronicles, to be brought in and read to him.

And there it was found recorded that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the eunuchs who guarded the king’s entrance, when they had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.

The king inquired, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this act?”

“Nothing has been done for him,” replied the king’s attendants.

“Who is in the court?” the king asked.

Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to ask the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him.

So the king’s attendants answered him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.”

“Bring him in,” ordered the king.

Haman entered, and the king asked him, “What should be done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor?”

Now Haman thought to himself, “Whom would the king be delighted to honor more than me?”

And Haman told the king, “For the man whom the king is delighted to honor,

have them bring a royal robe that the king himself has worn and a horse on which the king himself has ridden—one with a royal crest placed on its head.

Let the robe and the horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them array the man the king wants to honor and parade him on the horse through the city square, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor!’ ”

“Hurry,” said the king to Haman, “and do just as you proposed. Take the robe and the horse to Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything that you have suggested.”

So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai, and paraded him through the city square, crying out before him, “This is what is done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor!”

Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief.

Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is Jewish, you will not prevail against him—for surely you will fall before him.”

While they were still speaking with Haman, the king’s eunuchs arrived and rushed him to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

Esther 7

So the king and Haman went to dine with Esther the queen,

and as they drank their wine on that second day, the king asked once more, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be fulfilled.”

Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, grant me my life as my petition, and the lives of my people as my request.

For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as menservants and maidservants, I would have remained silent, because no such distress would justify burdening the king.”

Then King Xerxes spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?”

Esther replied, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked man—Haman!”

And Haman stood in terror before the king and queen.

In his fury, the king arose from drinking his wine and went to the palace garden, while Haman stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life, for he realized that the king was planning a terrible fate for him.

Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually assault the queen while I am in the palace?”

As soon as the words had left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high at Haman’s house. He had it built for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.”

“Hang him on it!” declared the king.

So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.

The Lord sings over his people. We forget that singing is a holy thing. Language itself is musical. There isn't really an unmusical way to go through life. It is a part of God that he has given us to use back to and with him. We are exhorted to sing his praise many times throughout the scriptures. Indeed, it has always constituted legitimate gatherings of his people.

The prophet Zephaniah, even as he warns of God's wrath and jealousy, also promises a future restoration marked by this holy singing. The Lord gets to expect these displays of love from us because he loves us first. Do you love the Lord? Sing praises unto him in the community of his people!

Zephaniah 1

This is the word of the LORD that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah:

“I will completely sweep away

everything from the face of the earth,”

declares the LORD.

“I will sweep away man and beast;

I will sweep away the birds of the air,

and the fish of the sea,

and the idols with their wicked worshipers.

I will cut off mankind

from the face of the earth,”

declares the LORD.

“I will stretch out My hand against Judah

and against all who dwell in Jerusalem.

I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal,

the names of the idolatrous and pagan priests—

those who bow on the rooftops

to worship the host of heaven,

those who bow down and swear by the LORD

but also swear by Milcom,

and those who turn back

from following the LORD,

neither seeking the LORD

nor inquiring of Him.”

Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD,

for the Day of the LORD is near.

Indeed, the LORD has prepared a sacrifice;

He has consecrated His guests.

“On the Day of the LORD’s sacrifice

I will punish the princes,

the sons of the king,

and all who are dressed in foreign apparel.

On that day I will punish

all who leap over the threshold,

who fill the house of their master

with violence and deceit.

On that day,” declares the LORD,

“a cry will go up from the Fish Gate,

a wail from the Second District,

and a loud crashing from the hills.

Wail, O dwellers of the Hollow,

for all your merchants will be silenced;

all who weigh out silver will be cut off.

And at that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps

and punish the men settled in complacency,

who say to themselves,

‘The LORD will do nothing,

either good or bad.’

Their wealth will be plundered

and their houses laid waste.

They will build houses but not inhabit them,

and plant vineyards but never drink their wine.

The great Day of the LORD is near—

near and coming quickly.

Listen, the Day of the LORD!

Then the cry of the mighty will be bitter.

That day will be

a day of wrath,

a day of trouble and distress,

a day of destruction and desolation,

a day of darkness and gloom,

a day of clouds and blackness,

a day of horn blast and battle cry

against the fortified cities,

and against the high corner towers.

I will bring such distress on mankind

that they will walk like the blind,

because they have sinned against the LORD.

Their blood will be poured out like dust

and their flesh like dung.

Neither their silver nor their gold

will be able to deliver them

on the Day of the LORD’s wrath.

The whole earth will be consumed

by the fire of His jealousy.”

For indeed, He will make a sudden end

of all who dwell on the earth.

Zephaniah 2

Gather yourselves, gather together,

O shameful nation,

before the decree takes effect

and the day passes like chaff,

before the burning anger of the LORD comes upon you,

before the Day of the LORD’s anger comes upon you.

Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth

who carry out His justice.

Seek righteousness; seek humility.

Perhaps you will be sheltered

on the day of the LORD’s anger.

For Gaza will be abandoned,

and Ashkelon left in ruins.

Ashdod will be driven out at noon,

and Ekron will be uprooted.

Woe to the dwellers of the seacoast,

O nation of the Cherethites!

The word of the LORD is against you,

O Canaan, land of the Philistines:

“I will destroy you,

and no one will be left.”

So the seacoast will become a land of pastures,

with wells for shepherds and folds for sheep.

The coast will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah;

there they will find pasture.

They will lie down in the evening

among the houses of Ashkelon,

for the LORD their God will attend to them

and restore their captives.

“I have heard the reproach of Moab

and the insults of the Ammonites,

who have taunted My people

and threatened their borders.

Therefore, as surely as I live,”

declares the LORD of Hosts,

the God of Israel,

“surely Moab will be like Sodom

and the Ammonites like Gomorrah—

a place of weeds and salt pits,

a perpetual wasteland.

The remnant of My people will plunder them;

the remainder of My nation will dispossess them.”

This they shall have in return for their pride,

for taunting and mocking the people

of the LORD of Hosts.

The LORD will be terrifying to them

when He starves all the gods of the earth.

Then the nations of every shore

will bow in worship to Him,

each in its own place.

“You too, O Cushites,

will be slain by My sword.”

And He will stretch out His hand against the north

and destroy Assyria;

He will make Nineveh a desolation,

as dry as a desert.

Herds will lie down in her midst,

creatures of every kind.

Both the desert owl and screech owl

will roost atop her pillars.

Their calls will sound from the window,

but desolation will lie on the threshold,

for He will expose the beams of cedar.

This carefree city

that dwells securely,

that thinks to herself:

“I am it, and there is none besides me,”

what a ruin she has become,

a resting place for beasts.

Everyone who passes by her

hisses and shakes his fist.

Zephaniah 3

Woe to the city of oppressors,

rebellious and defiled!

She heeded no voice;

she accepted no correction.

She does not trust in the LORD;

she has not drawn near to her God.

Her princes are roaring lions;

her judges are evening wolves,

leaving nothing for the morning.

Her prophets are reckless,

faithless men.

Her priests profane the sanctuary;

they do violence to the law.

The LORD within her is righteous;

He does no wrong.

He applies His justice morning by morning;

He does not fail at dawn,

yet the unjust know no shame.

“I have cut off the nations;

their corner towers are destroyed.

I have made their streets deserted

with no one to pass through.

Their cities are laid waste,

with no man, no inhabitant.

I said, ‘Surely you will fear Me

and accept correction.’

Then her dwelling place would not be cut off

despite all for which I punished her.

But they rose early

to corrupt all their deeds.

Therefore wait for Me,”

declares the LORD,

“until the day

I rise to testify.

For My decision is to gather nations,

to assemble kingdoms,

to pour out upon them My indignation—

all My burning anger.

For all the earth will be consumed

by the fire of My jealousy.

For then I will restore

pure lips to the peoples,

that all may call upon the name of the LORD

and serve Him shoulder to shoulder.

From beyond the rivers of Cush

My worshipers, My scattered people,

will bring Me an offering.

On that day you will not be put to shame

for any of the deeds

by which you have transgressed against Me.

For then I will remove from among you

those who rejoice in their pride,

and you will never again be haughty

on My holy mountain.

But I will leave within you a meek and humble people,

and they will trust in the name of the LORD.

The remnant of Israel

will no longer do wrong or speak lies,

nor will a deceitful tongue

be found in their mouths.

But they will feed and lie down,

with no one to make them tremble.”

Sing for joy, O Daughter of Zion;

shout aloud, O Israel!

Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,

O Daughter of Jerusalem!

The LORD has taken away your punishment;

He has turned back your enemy.

Israel’s King, the LORD, is among you;

no longer will you fear any harm.

On that day they will say to Jerusalem:

“Do not fear, O Zion;

do not let your hands fall limp.

The LORD your God is among you;

He is mighty to save.

He will rejoice over you with gladness;

He will quiet you with His love;

He will rejoice over you with singing.”

“I will gather those among you who grieve

over the appointed feasts,

so that you will no longer suffer reproach.

Behold, at that time,

I will deal with all who afflict you.

I will save the lame

and gather the scattered;

and I will appoint praise and fame

for the disgraced throughout the earth.

At that time I will bring you in;

yes, at that time I will gather you.

For I will give you fame and praise

among all the peoples of the earth

when I restore your captives

before your very eyes,”

says the LORD.

Psalm 9

I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart;

I will recount all Your wonders.

I will be glad and rejoice in You;

I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

When my enemies retreat,

they stumble and perish before You.

For You have upheld my just cause;

You sit on Your throne judging righteously.

You have rebuked the nations;

You have destroyed the wicked;

You have erased their name forever and ever.

The enemy has come to eternal ruin,

and You have uprooted their cities;

the very memory of them has vanished.

But the LORD abides forever;

He has established His throne for judgment.

He judges the world with justice;

He governs the people with equity.

The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,

a stronghold in times of trouble.

Those who know Your name trust in You,

for You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.

Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion;

proclaim His deeds among the nations.

For the Avenger of bloodshed remembers;

He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.

Be merciful to me, O LORD;

see how my enemies afflict me!

Lift me up from the gates of death,

that I may declare all Your praises—

that within the gates of Daughter Zion

I may rejoice in Your salvation.

The nations have fallen into a pit of their making;

their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.

The LORD is known by the justice He brings;

the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.

Higgaion Selah

The wicked will return to Sheol—

all the nations who forget God.

For the needy will not always be forgotten;

nor the hope of the oppressed forever dashed.

Rise up, O LORD, do not let man prevail;

let the nations be judged in Your presence.

Lay terror upon them, O LORD;

let the nations know they are but men.

Selah

Psalm 11

In the LORD I take refuge.

How then can you say to me:

“Flee like a bird to your mountain!

For behold, the wicked bend their bows.

They set their arrow on the string

to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.

If the foundations are destroyed,

what can the righteous do?”

The LORD is in His holy temple;

the LORD is on His heavenly throne.

His eyes are watching closely;

they examine the sons of men.

The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked;

His soul hates the lover of violence.

On the wicked He will rain down fiery coals and sulfur;

a scorching wind will be their portion.

For the LORD is righteous; He loves justice.

The upright will see His face.

Proverbs 11

Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD,

but an accurate weight is His delight.

When pride comes, disgrace follows,

but with humility comes wisdom.

The integrity of the upright guides them,

but the perversity of the faithless destroys them.

Riches are worthless in the day of wrath,

but righteousness brings deliverance from death.

The righteousness of the blameless directs their path,

but the wicked fall by their own wickedness.

The righteousness of the upright delivers them,

but the faithless are trapped by their own desires.

When the wicked man dies, his hope perishes,

and the hope of his strength vanishes.

The righteous man is delivered from trouble;

in his place the wicked man goes in.

With his mouth the ungodly man destroys his neighbor,

but through knowledge the righteous are rescued.

When the righteous thrive, the city rejoices,

and when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.

By the blessing of the upright a city is built up,

but by the mouth of the wicked it is torn down.

Whoever shows contempt for his neighbor lacks judgment,

but a man of understanding remains silent.

A gossip reveals a secret,

but a trustworthy person keeps a confidence.

For lack of guidance, a nation falls,

but with many counselors comes deliverance.

He who puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer,

but the one who hates indebtedness is secure.

A gracious woman attains honor,

but ruthless men gain only wealth.

A kind man benefits himself,

but a cruel man brings trouble on himself.

The wicked man earns an empty wage,

but he who sows righteousness reaps a true reward.

Genuine righteousness leads to life,

but the pursuit of evil brings death.

The perverse in heart are an abomination to the LORD,

but the blameless in their walk are His delight.

Be assured that the wicked will not go unpunished,

but the offspring of the righteous will escape.

Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout

is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.

The desire of the righteous leads only to good,

but the hope of the wicked brings wrath.

One gives freely, yet gains even more;

another withholds what is right, only to become poor.

A generous soul will prosper,

and he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

The people will curse the hoarder of grain,

but blessing will crown the one who sells it.

He who searches out good finds favor,

but evil will come to him who seeks it.

He who trusts in his riches will fall,

but the righteous will thrive like foliage.

He who brings trouble on his house will inherit the wind,

and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,

and he who wins souls is wise.

If the righteous receive their due on earth,

how much more the ungodly and the sinner!

God speaks through prophets. Prophets warn the people. The people take offense at the prophets because they don’t feel like they are doing anything wrong, or because they are trying to forget what they have done. They ask the prophet to stop prophesying. The prophet then turns and curses them directly. Jesus himself did this. Amos does it today.

The world hates God. That way leads damnation. If we choose life, we choose to hear the truth and then repent. Do that. Let’s all do that.

Amos 6

Woe to those at ease in Zion

and those secure on Mount Samaria,

the distinguished ones of the foremost nation,

to whom the house of Israel comes.

Cross over to Calneh and see;

go from there to the great Hamath;

then go down to Gath of the Philistines.

Are you better than these kingdoms?

Is their territory larger than yours?

You dismiss the day of calamity

and bring near a reign of violence.

You lie on beds inlaid with ivory,

and lounge upon your couches.

You dine on lambs from the flock

and calves from the stall.

You improvise songs on the harp like David

and invent your own musical instruments.

You drink wine by the bowlful

and anoint yourselves with the finest oils,

but you fail to grieve

over the ruin of Joseph.

Therefore, you will now go into exile

as the first of the captives,

and your feasting and lounging

will come to an end.

The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself—the LORD, the God of Hosts, has declared:

“I abhor Jacob’s pride

and detest his citadels,

so I will deliver up the city

and everything in it.”

And if there are ten men left in one house, they too will die.

And when the relative who is to burn the bodies picks them up to remove them from the house, he will call to one inside, “Is anyone else with you?”

“None,” that person will answer.

“Silence,” the relative will retort, “for the name of the LORD must not be invoked.”

For the LORD gives a command:

“The great house will be smashed to pieces,

and the small house to rubble.”

“Do horses gallop on the cliffs?

Does one plow the sea with oxen?

But you have turned justice into poison

and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—

you who rejoice in Lo-debar and say,

‘Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?’

For behold, I will raise up a nation

against you, O house of Israel,”

declares the LORD, the God of Hosts,

“and they will oppress you

from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.”

Amos 7

This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts just after the king’s harvest, as the late spring crop was coming up.

And when the locusts had eaten every green plant in the land, I said, “Lord GOD, please forgive! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?”

So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen,” He said.

This is what the Lord GOD showed me: The Lord GOD was calling for judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land.

Then I said, “Lord GOD, please stop! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?”

So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen either,” said the Lord GOD.

This is what He showed me: Behold, the Lord was standing by a wall true to plumb, with a plumb line in His hand. “Amos, what do you see?” asked the LORD.

“A plumb line,” I replied.

“Behold,” said the Lord, “I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel; I will no longer spare them:

The high places of Isaac will be deserted,

and the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste;

and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam

with My sword.”

Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words,

for this is what Amos has said:

‘Jeroboam will die by the sword,

and Israel will surely go into exile,

away from their homeland.’ ”

And Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah; earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.

But never prophesy at Bethel again, because it is the sanctuary of the king and the temple of the kingdom.”

“I was not a prophet,” Amos replied, “nor was I the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman and a tender of sycamore-fig trees.

But the LORD took me from following the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’

Now, therefore, hear the word of the LORD. You say:

‘Do not prophesy against Israel;

do not preach against the house of Isaac.’

Therefore this is what the LORD says:

‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city,

and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword.

Your land will be divided by a measuring line,

and you yourself will die on pagan soil.

And Israel will surely go into exile,

away from their homeland.’ ”

Amos 8

This is what the Lord GOD showed me: I saw a basket of summer fruit.

“Amos, what do you see?” He asked.

“A basket of summer fruit,” I replied.

So the LORD said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel; I will no longer spare them.”

“In that day,” declares the Lord GOD, “the songs of the temple will turn to wailing. Many will be the corpses, strewn in silence everywhere!”

Hear this, you who trample the needy,

who do away with the poor of the land,

asking, “When will the New Moon be over,

that we may sell grain?

When will the Sabbath end,

that we may market wheat?

Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel;

let us cheat with dishonest scales.

Let us buy the poor with silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals,

selling even the chaff with the wheat!”

The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob:

“I will never forget any of their deeds.

Will not the land quake for this,

and all its dwellers mourn?

All of it will swell like the Nile;

it will surge and then subside

like the Nile in Egypt.

And in that day,

declares the Lord GOD,

I will make the sun go down at noon,

and I will darken the earth in the daytime.

I will turn your feasts into mourning

and all your songs into lamentation.

I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth

and every head to be shaved.

I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son,

and its outcome like a bitter day.

Behold, the days are coming,

declares the Lord GOD,

when I will send a famine on the land—

not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,

but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.

People will stagger from sea to sea

and roam from north to east,

seeking the word of the LORD,

but they will not find it.

In that day the lovely young women—

the young men as well—

will faint from thirst.

Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria

and say, ‘As surely as your god lives, O Dan,’

or, ‘As surely as the way of Beersheba lives’—

they will fall, never to rise again.”

Amos 9

I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said:

“Strike the tops of the pillars

so that the thresholds shake.

Topple them on the heads of all the people,

and I will kill the rest with the sword.

None of those who flee will get away;

none of the fugitives will escape.

Though they dig down to Sheol,

from there My hand will take them;

and though they climb up to heaven,

from there I will pull them down.

Though they hide themselves atop Carmel,

there I will track them and seize them;

and though they hide from Me at the bottom of the sea,

there I will command the serpent to bite them.

Though they are driven by their enemies into captivity,

there I will command the sword to slay them.

I will fix My eyes upon them

for harm and not for good.”

The Lord GOD of Hosts,

He who touches the earth and it melts,

and all its dwellers mourn—

all the land rises like the Nile,

then sinks like the river of Egypt—

He builds His upper rooms in the heavens

and founds His vault upon the earth.

He summons the waters of the sea

and pours them over the face of the earth.

The LORD is His name.

“Are you not like the Cushites to Me,

O children of Israel?”

declares the LORD.

“Did I not bring Israel

up from the land of Egypt,

the Philistines from Caphtor,

and the Arameans from Kir?

Surely the eyes of the Lord GOD

are on the sinful kingdom,

and I will destroy it from the face of the earth.

Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”

declares the LORD.

“For surely I will give the command,

and I will shake the house of Israel

among all the nations

as grain is sifted in a sieve;

but not a pebble will reach the ground.

All the sinners among My people

will die by the sword—

all those who say,

‘Disaster will never draw near or confront us.’ ”

“In that day I will restore

the fallen tent of David.

I will repair its gaps, restore its ruins,

and rebuild it as in the days of old,

that they may possess the remnant of Edom

and all the nations that bear My name,”

declares the LORD, who will do this.

“Behold, the days are coming,”

declares the LORD,

“when the plowman will overtake the reaper

and the treader of grapes, the sower of seed.

The mountains will drip with sweet wine,

with which all the hills will flow.

I will restore My people Israel from captivity;

they will rebuild and inhabit the ruined cities.

They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;

they will make gardens and eat their fruit.

I will firmly plant them in their own land,

never again to be uprooted

from the land that I have given them,”

says the LORD your God.

Obadaiah

This is the vision of Obadiah:

This is what the Lord GOD says about Edom—

We have heard a message from the LORD;

an envoy has been sent among the nations

to say, “Rise up,

and let us go to battle against her!”—

“Behold, I will make you small among the nations;

you will be deeply despised.

The pride of your heart has deceived you,

O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks

whose habitation is the heights,

who say in your heart,

‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’

Though you soar like the eagle

and make your nest among the stars,

even from there I will bring you down,”

declares the LORD.

“If thieves came to you,

if robbers by night—

oh, how you will be ruined—

would they not steal only what they wanted?

If grape gatherers came to you,

would they not leave some gleanings?

But how Esau will be pillaged,

his hidden treasures sought out!

All the men allied with you

will drive you to the border;

the men at peace with you

will deceive and overpower you.

Those who eat your bread

will set a trap for you

without your awareness of it.

In that day, declares the LORD,

will I not destroy the wise men of Edom

and the men of understanding

in the mountains of Esau?

Then your mighty men, O Teman,

will be terrified,

so that everyone in the mountains of Esau

will be cut down in the slaughter.

Because of the violence against your brother Jacob,

you will be covered with shame

and cut off forever.

On the day you stood aloof

while strangers carried off his wealth

and foreigners entered his gate

and cast lots for Jerusalem,

you were just like one of them.

But you should not gloat in that day,

your brother’s day of misfortune,

nor rejoice over the people of Judah

in the day of their destruction,

nor boast proudly

in the day of their distress.

You should not enter the gate of My people

in the day of their disaster,

nor gloat over their affliction

in the day of their disaster,

nor loot their wealth

in the day of their disaster.

Nor should you stand at the crossroads

to cut off their fugitives,

nor deliver up their survivors

in the day of their distress.

For the Day of the LORD is near

for all the nations.

As you have done, it will be done to you;

your recompense will return upon your own head.

For as you drank on My holy mountain,

so all the nations will drink continually.

They will drink and gulp it down;

they will be as if they had never existed.

But on Mount Zion there will be deliverance,

and it will be holy,

and the house of Jacob

will reclaim their possession.

Then the house of Jacob will be a blazing fire,

and the house of Joseph a burning flame;

but the house of Esau will be stubble—

Jacob will set it ablaze and consume it.

Therefore no survivor will remain

from the house of Esau.”

For the LORD has spoken.

Those from the Negev will possess the mountains of Esau;

those from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines.

They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria,

and Benjamin will possess Gilead.

And the exiles of this host of the Israelites

will possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath;

and the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad

will possess the cities of the Negev.

The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion

to rule over the mountains of Esau.

And the kingdom will belong to the LORD.

Proverbs 10

The proverbs of Solomon:

A wise son brings joy to his father,

but a foolish son grief to his mother.

Ill-gotten treasures profit nothing,

but righteousness brings deliverance from death.

The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry,

but He denies the craving of the wicked.

Idle hands make one poor,

but diligent hands bring wealth.

He who gathers in summer is a wise son,

but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.

Blessings are on the head of the righteous,

but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

The memory of the righteous is a blessing,

but the name of the wicked will rot.

A wise heart will receive commandments,

but foolish lips will come to ruin.

He who walks in integrity walks securely,

but he who perverts his ways will be found out.

He who winks the eye causes grief,

and foolish lips will come to ruin.

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,

but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

Hatred stirs up dissension,

but love covers all transgressions.

Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning,

but a rod is for the back of him who lacks judgment.

The wise store up knowledge,

but the mouth of the fool invites destruction.

The wealth of the rich man is his fortified city,

but poverty is the ruin of the poor.

The labor of the righteous leads to life,

but the gain of the wicked brings punishment.

Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life,

but he who ignores reproof goes astray.

The one who conceals hatred has lying lips,

and whoever spreads slander is a fool.

When words are many, sin is unavoidable,

but he who restrains his lips is wise.

The tongue of the righteous is choice silver,

but the heart of the wicked has little worth.

The lips of the righteous feed many,

but fools die for lack of judgment.

The blessing of the LORD enriches,

and He adds no sorrow to it.

The fool delights in shameful conduct,

but a man of understanding has wisdom.

What the wicked man dreads will overtake him,

but the desire of the righteous will be granted.

When the whirlwind passes, the wicked are no more,

but the righteous are secure forever.

Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,

so is the slacker to those who send him.

The fear of the LORD prolongs life,

but the years of the wicked will be cut short.

The hope of the righteous is joy,

but the expectations of the wicked will perish.

The way of the LORD is a refuge to the upright,

but destruction awaits those who do evil.

The righteous will never be shaken,

but the wicked will not inhabit the land.

The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom,

but a perverse tongue will be cut out.

The lips of the righteous know what is fitting,

but the mouth of the wicked is perverse.

The Day of the Lord is a promise that begins in the Old Testament. Prophets told of a future day on which the Lord would come directly to earth, ending every worldly power and principality, bringing justice to the world. A people that identified as victims yearned for God to come. The prophet Amos, however, warned that the Day of the Lord would come as a great day of dread to the unfaithful Hebrews in Judah and Israel. Because they oppressed the righteous and the poor, the Lord pours out curses upon them in today’s reading. Buckle up. This is meant as a warning for those of us who have grown ambivalent to injustice and oppression. May we pray for soft hearts inclined towards mercy. It is the peacemakers who will inherit the earth, isn’t it?

Amos 1

These are the words of Amos, who was among the sheepherders of Tekoa—what he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, in the days when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.

He said:

“The LORD roars from Zion

and raises His voice from Jerusalem;

the pastures of the shepherds mourn,

and the summit of Carmel withers.”

This is what the LORD says:

“For three transgressions of Damascus, even four,

I will not revoke My judgment,

because they threshed Gilead

with sledges of iron.

So I will send fire upon the house of Hazael

to consume the citadels of Ben-hadad.

I will break down the gates of Damascus;

I will cut off the ruler of the Valley of Aven

and the one who wields the scepter in Beth-eden.

The people of Aram will be exiled to Kir,”

says the LORD.

This is what the LORD says:

“For three transgressions of Gaza, even four,

I will not revoke My judgment,

because they exiled a whole population,

delivering them up to Edom.

So I will send fire upon the walls of Gaza,

to consume its citadels.

I will cut off the ruler of Ashdod

and the one who wields the scepter in Ashkelon.

I will turn My hand against Ekron,

and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,”

says the Lord GOD.

This is what the LORD says:

“For three transgressions of Tyre, even four,

I will not revoke My judgment,

because they delivered up a whole congregation of exiles to Edom

and broke a covenant of brotherhood.

So I will send fire upon the walls of Tyre

to consume its citadels.”

This is what the LORD says:

“For three transgressions of Edom, even four,

I will not revoke My judgment,

because he pursued his brother with the sword

and stifled all compassion;

his anger raged continually,

and his fury flamed incessantly.

So I will send fire upon Teman

to consume the citadels of Bozrah.”

This is what the LORD says:

“For three transgressions of the Ammonites, even four,

I will not revoke My judgment,

because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead

in order to enlarge their territory.

So I will kindle a fire in the walls of Rabbah

to consume its citadels

amid war cries on the day of battle

and a violent wind on the day of tempest.

Their king will go into exile —

he and his princes together,”

says the LORD.

Amos 2

This is what the LORD says:

“For three transgressions of Moab, even four,

I will not revoke My judgment,

because he burned to lime

the bones of Edom’s king.

So I will send fire against Moab

to consume the citadels of Kerioth.

Moab will die in tumult,

amid war cries and the sound of the ram’s horn.

I will cut off the ruler of Moab

and kill all the officials with him,”

says the LORD.

This is what the LORD says:

“For three transgressions of Judah, even four,

I will not revoke My judgment,

because they reject the Law of the LORD

and fail to keep His statutes;

they are led astray by the lies

in which their fathers walked.

So I will send fire upon Judah

to consume the citadels of Jerusalem.”

This is what the LORD says:

“For three transgressions of Israel, even four,

I will not revoke My judgment,

because they sell the righteous for silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals.

They trample on the heads of the poor

as on the dust of the earth;

they push the needy out of their way.

A man and his father

have relations with the same girl

and so profane My holy name.

They lie down beside every altar

on garments taken in pledge.

And in the house of their God,

they drink wine obtained through fines.

Yet it was I who destroyed

the Amorite before them,

though his height was like that of the cedars,

and he was as strong as the oaks.

Yet I destroyed his fruit above

and his roots below.

And I brought you up from the land of Egypt

and led you forty years in the wilderness,

that you might take possession

of the land of the Amorite.

I raised up prophets from your sons

and Nazirites from your young men.

Is this not true,

O children of Israel?”

declares the LORD.

“But you made the Nazirites drink wine

and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.

Behold, I am about to crush you in your place

as with a cart full of grain.

Escape will fail the swift,

the strong will not prevail by his strength,

and the mighty will not save his life.

The archer will not stand his ground,

the fleet of foot will not escape,

and the horseman will not save his life.

Even the bravest of mighty men

will flee naked on that day,”

declares the LORD.

Amos 3

Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:

“Only you have I known

from all the families of the earth;

therefore I will punish you

for all your iniquities.”

Can two walk together

without agreeing where to go?

Does a lion roar in the forest

when he has no prey?

Does a young lion growl in his den

if he has caught nothing?

Does a bird land in a snare

where no bait has been set?

Does a trap spring from the ground

when it has nothing to catch?

If a ram’s horn sounds in a city,

do the people not tremble?

If calamity comes to a city,

has not the LORD caused it?

Surely the Lord GOD does nothing

without revealing His plan

to His servants the prophets.

The lion has roared—

who will not fear?

The Lord GOD has spoken—

who will not prophesy?

Proclaim to the citadels of Ashdod

and to the citadels of Egypt:

“Assemble on the mountains of Samaria;

see the great unrest in the city

and the acts of oppression in her midst.”

“For they know not how to do right,”

declares the LORD.

“They store up violence and destruction

in their citadels.”

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says:

“An enemy will surround the land;

he will pull down your strongholds

and plunder your citadels.”

This is what the LORD says:

“As the shepherd snatches from the mouth of the lion

two legs or a piece of an ear,

so the Israelites dwelling in Samaria will be rescued

having just the corner of a bed

or the cushion of a couch.

Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,

declares the Lord GOD, the God of Hosts.

On the day I punish Israel for their transgressions,

I will visit destruction on the altars of Bethel;

the horns of the altar will be cut off,

and they will fall to the ground.

I will tear down the winter house

along with the summer house;

the houses of ivory will also perish,

and the great houses will come to an end,”

declares the LORD.

Amos 4

Hear this word,

you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria,

you women who oppress the poor

and crush the needy,

who say to your husbands,

“Bring us more to drink.”

The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness:

“Behold, the days are coming

when you will be taken away with hooks,

and your posterity with fishhooks.

You will go out through broken walls,

each one straight ahead of her,

and you will be cast out toward Harmon,”

declares the LORD.

“Go to Bethel and transgress;

rebel even more at Gilgal!

Bring your sacrifices every morning,

your tithes every three days.

Offer leavened bread as a thank offering,

and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings.

For that is what you children of Israel love to do,”

declares the Lord GOD.

“I beset all your cities with cleanness of teeth

and all your towns with lack of bread,

yet you did not return to Me,”

declares the LORD.

“I also withheld the rain from you

when the harvest was three months away.

I sent rain on one city

but withheld it from another.

One field received rain;

another without rain withered.

People staggered from city to city

for water to drink,

but they were not satisfied;

yet you did not return to Me,”

declares the LORD.

“I struck you with blight and mildew

in your growing gardens and vineyards;

the locust devoured your fig and olive trees,

yet you did not return to Me,”

declares the LORD.

“I sent plagues among you

like those of Egypt;

I killed your young men with the sword,

along with your captured horses.

I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp,

yet you did not return to Me,”

declares the LORD.

“Some of you I overthrew

as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,

and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze,

yet you did not return to Me,”

declares the LORD.

“Therefore, that is what I will do

to you, O Israel,

and since I will do this to you,

prepare to meet your God, O Israel!

For behold, He who forms the mountains,

who creates the wind

and reveals His thoughts to man,

who turns the dawn to darkness

and strides on the heights of the earth—

the LORD, the God of Hosts, is His name.”

Amos 5

Hear this word, O house of Israel, this lamentation I take up against you:

“Fallen is Virgin Israel,

never to rise again.

She lies abandoned on her land,

with no one to raise her up.”

This is what the Lord GOD says:

“The city that marches out a thousand strong

will only see a hundred return,

and the one that marches out a hundred strong

will have but ten left in the house of Israel.”

For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel:

“Seek Me and live!

Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal;

do not journey to Beersheba,

for Gilgal will surely go into exile,

and Bethel will come to nothing.

Seek the LORD and live,

or He will sweep like fire through the house of Joseph;

it will devour everything,

with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.

There are those who turn justice into wormwood

and cast righteousness to the ground.

He who made the Pleiades and Orion,

who turns darkness into dawn

and darkens day into night,

who summons the waters of the sea

and pours them over the face of the earth—

the LORD is His name—

He flashes destruction on the strong,

so that fury comes upon the stronghold.

There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate

and despise him who speaks with integrity.

Therefore, because you trample on the poor

and exact from him a tax of grain,

you will never live

in the stone houses you have built;

you will never drink the wine

from the lush vineyards you have planted.

For I know that your transgressions are many

and your sins are numerous.

You oppress the righteous by taking bribes;

you deprive the poor of justice in the gate.

Therefore, the prudent keep silent in such times,

for the days are evil.

Seek good, not evil,

so that you may live.

And the LORD, the God of Hosts,

will be with you, as you have claimed.

Hate evil and love good;

establish justice in the gate.

Perhaps the LORD, the God of Hosts,

will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says:

“There will be wailing in all the public squares

and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets.

The farmer will be summoned to mourn,

and the mourners to wail.

There will be wailing in all the vineyards,

for I will pass through your midst,”

says the LORD.

Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD!

What will the Day of the LORD be for you?

It will be darkness and not light.

It will be like a man who flees from a lion,

only to encounter a bear,

or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall,

only to be bitten by a snake.

Will not the Day of the LORD

be darkness and not light,

even gloom with no brightness in it?

“I hate, I despise your feasts!

I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.

Even though you offer Me burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

for your peace offerings of fattened cattle

I will have no regard.

Take away from Me the noise of your songs!

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

But let justice roll on like a river,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings

forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

You have taken along Sakkuth your king

and Kaiwan your star god,

the idols you made for yourselves.

Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,”

says the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts.

Psalm 25

To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul;

in You, my God, I trust.

Do not let me be put to shame;

do not let my enemies exult over me.

Surely none who wait for You will be put to shame;

but those who are faithless without cause will be disgraced.

Show me Your ways, O LORD;

teach me Your paths.

Guide me in Your truth and teach me,

for You are the God of my salvation;

all day long I wait for You.

Remember, O LORD, Your compassion and loving devotion,

for they are from age to age.

Remember not the sins of my youth,

nor my rebellious acts;

remember me according to Your loving devotion,

because of Your goodness, O LORD.

Good and upright is the LORD;

therefore He shows sinners the way.

He guides the humble in what is right

and teaches them His way.

All the LORD’s ways are loving and faithful

to those who keep His covenant and His decrees.

For the sake of Your name, O LORD,

forgive my iniquity, for it is great.

Who is the man who fears the LORD?

He will instruct him in the path chosen for him.

His soul will dwell in prosperity,

and his descendants will inherit the land.

The LORD confides in those who fear Him,

and reveals His covenant to them.

My eyes are always on the LORD,

for He will free my feet from the mesh.

Turn to me and be gracious,

for I am lonely and afflicted.

The troubles of my heart increase;

free me from my distress.

Consider my affliction and trouble,

and take away all my sins.

Consider my enemies, for they are many,

and they hate me with vicious hatred.

Guard my soul and deliver me;

let me not be put to shame,

for I take refuge in You.

May integrity and uprightness preserve me,

because I wait for You.

Redeem Israel, O God,

from all its distress.

"And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers." - Matthew 21:12-13

This week we tackle the first few sections of chapter 21 of the Gospel of Matthew as well as the last section. In the first two sections we read of Jesus' triumphal entry in to the city of Jerusalem and when he enters the temple to overthrow the tables of the money-changers. The last section we deal with first, in that section we go over the parable of the tenants.

Psalm 22 is clearly about Jesus on the cross, written centuries before it happened. Psalm 23 is about how we understand God to be shepherding us through our lives, and how it is that we need to accept his direction, even as he leads us through the “valley of the shadow of death.” Psalm 24 is typically read during Advent in many liturgical Christian traditions, as the King of Glory’s entrance is seen as a prophecy of the second coming of Christ.

Every psalm is important. All of the psalms, in one sense or another, foretell of Christ and endow us with a right spirit of worship in response to the Lord’s power and glory. The Proverbs, likewise, give us a right sense of the Lord. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” we are told. In an age that refuses to fear, is it any wonder we are so far from him?

Psalm 22

My God, my God,

why have You forsaken me?

Why are You so far from saving me,

so far from my words of groaning?

I cry out by day, O my God,

but You do not answer,

and by night,

but I have no rest.

Yet You are holy,

enthroned on the praises of Israel.

In You our fathers trusted;

they trusted and You delivered them.

They cried out to You and were set free;

they trusted in You and were not disappointed.

But I am a worm and not a man,

scorned by men and despised by the people.

All who see me mock me;

they sneer and shake their heads:

“He trusts in the LORD,

let the LORD deliver him;

let the LORD rescue him,

since He delights in him.”

Yet You brought me forth from the womb;

You made me secure at my mother’s breast.

From birth I was cast upon You;

from my mother’s womb You have been my God.

Be not far from me,

for trouble is near

and there is no one to help.

Many bulls surround me;

strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

They open their jaws against me

like lions that roar and maul.

I am poured out like water,

and all my bones are disjointed.

My heart is like wax;

it melts away within me.

My strength is dried up like a potsherd,

and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.

You lay me in the dust of death.

For dogs surround me;

a band of evil men encircles me;

they have pierced my hands and feet.

I can count all my bones;

they stare and gloat over me.

They divide my garments among them

and cast lots for my clothing.

But You, O LORD, be not far off;

O my Strength, come quickly to help me.

Deliver my soul from the sword,

my precious life from the power of wild dogs.

Save me from the mouth of the lion;

at the horns of the wild oxen You have answered me!

I will proclaim Your name to my brothers;

I will praise You in the assembly.

You who fear the LORD, praise Him!

All descendants of Jacob, honor Him!

All offspring of Israel, revere Him!

For He has not despised or detested

the torment of the afflicted.

He has not hidden His face from him,

but has attended to his cry for help.

My praise for You resounds in the great assembly;

I will fulfill my vows before those who fear You.

The poor will eat and be satisfied;

those who seek the LORD will praise Him.

May your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth

will remember and turn to the LORD.

All the families of the nations

will bow down before Him.

For dominion belongs to the LORD

and He rules over the nations.

All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;

all who go down to the dust will kneel before Him—

even those unable to preserve their lives.

Posterity will serve Him;

they will declare the Lord to a new generation.

They will come and proclaim His righteousness

to a people yet unborn—

all that He has done.

Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness

for the sake of His name.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD

forever.

Psalm 24

The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof,

the world and all who dwell therein.

For He has founded it upon the seas

and established it upon the waters.

Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?

Who may stand in His holy place?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

who does not lift up his soul to an idol

or swear deceitfully.

He will receive blessing from the LORD

and vindication from the God of his salvation.

Such is the generation of those who seek Him,

who seek Your face, O God of Jacob.

Selah

Lift up your heads, O gates!

Be lifted up, O ancient doors,

that the King of Glory may enter!

Who is this King of Glory?

The LORD strong and mighty,

the LORD mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O gates!

Be lifted up, O ancient doors,

that the King of Glory may enter!

Who is He, this King of Glory?

The LORD of Hosts—

He is the King of Glory.

Selah

Proverbs 9

Wisdom has built her house;

she has carved out her seven pillars.

She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;

she has also set her table.

She has sent out her maidservants;

she calls out from the heights of the city.

“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”

she says to him who lacks judgment.

“Come, eat my bread

and drink the wine I have mixed.

Leave your folly behind, and you will live;

walk in the way of understanding.”

He who corrects a mocker brings shame on himself;

he who rebukes a wicked man taints himself.

Do not rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you;

rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.

Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still;

teach a righteous man, and he will increase his learning.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,

and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

For through wisdom your days will be multiplied,

and years will be added to your life.

If you are wise, you are wise to your own advantage;

but if you scoff, you alone will bear the consequences.

The woman named Folly is loud;

she is naive and knows nothing.

She sits at the door of her house,

on a seat in the heights of the city,

calling out to those who pass by,

who make their paths straight.

“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”

she says to him who lacks judgment.

“Stolen water is sweet,

and bread eaten in secret is tasty!”

But they do not know that the dead are there,

that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

The prophet Hosea is a great warning for those of us who take for granted that our loving Lord will not punish us. Just like the ancient Hebrews were punished despite their chosen status, we too can receive God’s wrath and indignation. The specific threats leveled by the Lord through Hosea are so disturbing as to cause great anxiety on our part. The Hebrews of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, also called Ephraim or Jacob here, believed they were serving the Lord sufficiently enough because they continued to call upon his name as they observed regular sacrifices in the places they had designated to him. Yet their sacrifices were an affront, as they had neglected the weightier things of the law: justice and mercy. We should consider that we, too, despite our beloved status, may be risking God’s wrath by being satisfied with ourselves in what is less than holy…

Hosea 8

Put the ram’s horn to your lips!

An eagle looms over the house of the LORD,

because the people have transgressed My covenant

and rebelled against My law.

Israel cries out to Me,

“O our God, we know You!”

But Israel has rejected good;

an enemy will pursue him.

They set up kings, but not by Me.

They make princes, but without My approval.

With their silver and gold they make themselves idols,

to their own destruction.

He has rejected your calf, O Samaria.

My anger burns against them.

How long will they be

incapable of innocence?

For this thing is from Israel—

a craftsman made it, and it is not God.

It will be broken to pieces,

that calf of Samaria.

For they sow the wind,

and they shall reap the whirlwind.

There is no standing grain;

what sprouts fails to yield flour.

Even if it should produce,

the foreigners would swallow it up.

Israel is swallowed up!

Now they are among the nations

like a worthless vessel.

For they have gone up to Assyria

like a wild donkey on its own.

Ephraim has hired lovers.

Though they hire allies among the nations,

I will now round them up,

and they will begin to diminish

under the oppression of the king of princes.

Though Ephraim multiplied the altars for sin,

they became his altars for sinning.

Though I wrote for them the great things of My law,

they regarded them as something strange.

Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me,

and though they eat the meat,

the LORD does not accept them.

Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins:

They will return to Egypt.

Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces;

Judah has multiplied its fortified cities.

But I will send fire upon their cities,

and it will consume their citadels.

Hosea 9

Do not rejoice, O Israel,

with exultation like the nations,

for you have played the harlot against your God;

you have made love for hire on every threshing floor.

The threshing floor and winepress will not feed them,

and the new wine will fail them.

They will not remain

in the land of the LORD;

Ephraim will return to Egypt

and eat unclean food in Assyria.

They will not pour out wine offerings to the LORD,

and their sacrifices will not please Him,

but will be to them like the bread of mourners;

all who eat will be defiled.

For their bread will be for themselves;

it will not enter the house of the LORD.

What will you do on the appointed day,

on the day of the LORD’s feast?

For even if they flee destruction,

Egypt will gather them

and Memphis will bury them.

Their precious silver will be taken over by thistles,

and thorns will overrun their tents.

The days of punishment have come;

the days of retribution have arrived—

let Israel know it.

The prophet is called a fool,

and the inspired man insane,

because of the greatness

of your iniquity and hostility.

The prophet is Ephraim’s watchman,

along with my God,

yet the snare of the fowler lies on all his paths.

Hostility is in the house of his God!

They have deeply corrupted themselves

as in the days of Gibeah;

He will remember their guilt;

He will punish their sins.

I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness.

I saw your fathers as the firstfruits

of the fig tree in its first season.

But they went to Baal-peor,

and consecrated themselves to Shame;

so they became as detestable

as the thing they loved.

Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird,

with no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception.

Even if they raise their children,

I will bereave them of each one.

Yes, woe be to them

when I turn away from them!

I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre,

planted in a meadow.

But Ephraim will bring out

his children for slaughter.

Give them, O LORD—

what will You give?

Give them wombs that miscarry

and breasts that dry up!

All their evil appears at Gilgal,

for there I hated them.

I will drive them from My house

for the wickedness of their deeds.

I will no longer love them;

all their leaders are rebellious.

Ephraim is struck down;

their root is withered;

they cannot bear fruit.

Even if they bear children,

I will slay the darlings of their wombs.

My God will reject them

because they have not obeyed Him;

and they shall be wanderers

among the nations.

Hosea 10

Israel was a luxuriant vine,

yielding fruit for himself.

The more his fruit increased,

the more he increased the altars.

The better his land produced,

the better he made the sacred pillars.

Their hearts are devious;

now they must bear their guilt.

The LORD will break down their altars

and demolish their sacred pillars.

Surely now they will say,

“We have no king,

for we do not revere the LORD.

What can a king do for us?”

They speak mere words;

with false oaths they make covenants.

So judgment springs up

like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.

The people of Samaria will fear

for the calf of Beth-aven.

Indeed, its people will mourn

with its idolatrous priests—

those who rejoiced in its glory—

for it has been taken from them into exile.

Yes, it will be carried to Assyria

as tribute to the great king.

Ephraim will be seized with shame;

Israel will be ashamed of its wooden idols.

Samaria will be carried off with her king

like a twig on the surface of the water.

The high places of Aven will be destroyed—

it is the sin of Israel;

thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars.

Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”

and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel,

and there you have remained.

Did not the battle in Gibeah

overtake the sons of iniquity?

I will chasten them when I please;

nations will be gathered against them

to put them in bondage

for their double transgression.

Ephraim is a well-trained heifer that loves to thresh;

but I will place a yoke on her fair neck.

I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow,

and Jacob will break the hard ground.

Sow for yourselves righteousness

and reap the fruit of loving devotion;

break up your unplowed ground.

For it is time to seek the LORD

until He comes and sends righteousness

upon you like rain.

You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice;

you have eaten the fruit of lies.

Because you have trusted in your own way

and in the multitude of your mighty men,

the roar of battle will rise against your people,

so that all your fortresses will be demolished

as Shalman devastated Beth-arbel

in the day of battle,

when mothers were dashed to pieces

along with their children.

Thus it will be done to you, O Bethel,

because of your great wickedness.

When the day dawns,

the king of Israel will be utterly cut off.

Hosea 11

When Israel was a child, I loved him,

and out of Egypt I called My son.

But the more I called Israel,

the farther they departed from Me.

They sacrificed to the Baals

and burned incense to carved images.

It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,

taking them in My arms,

but they never realized

that it was I who healed them.

I led them with cords of kindness,

with ropes of love;

I lifted the yoke from their necks

and bent down to feed them.

Will they not return to the land of Egypt

and be ruled by Assyria

because they refused to repent?

A sword will flash through their cities;

it will destroy the bars of their gates

and consume them in their own plans.

My people are bent on turning from Me.

Though they call to the Most High,

He will by no means exalt them.

How could I give you up, O Ephraim?

How could I surrender you, O Israel?

How could I make you like Admah?

How could I treat you like Zeboiim?

My heart is turned within Me;

My compassion is stirred!

I will not execute the full fury of My anger;

I will not turn back to destroy Ephraim.

For I am God and not man—

the Holy One among you—

and I will not come in wrath.

They will walk after the LORD;

He will roar like a lion.

When He roars,

His children will come trembling from the west.

They will come trembling like birds from Egypt

and like doves from the land of Assyria.

Then I will settle them in their homes,

declares the LORD.

Ephraim surrounds Me with lies,

the house of Israel with deceit;

but Judah still walks with God

and is faithful to the Holy One.

Hosea 12

Ephraim chases the wind

and pursues the east wind all day long;

he multiplies lies and violence;

he makes a covenant with Assyria

and sends olive oil to Egypt.

The LORD also brings a charge against Judah.

He will punish Jacob according to his ways

and repay him according to his deeds.

In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel,

and in his vigor he wrestled with God.

Yes, he struggled with the angel and prevailed;

he wept and sought His favor;

he found Him at Bethel

and spoke with Him there —

the LORD is the God of Hosts—

the LORD is His name of renown.

But you must return to your God,

maintaining love and justice,

and always waiting on your God.

A merchant loves to defraud

with dishonest scales in his hands.

And Ephraim boasts: “How rich I have become!

I have found wealth for myself.

In all my labors, they can find in me

no iniquity that is sinful.”

But I am the LORD your God

ever since the land of Egypt.

I will again make you dwell in tents,

as in the days of the appointed feast.

I spoke through the prophets

and multiplied their visions;

I gave parables through the prophets.

Is there iniquity in Gilead?

They will surely come to nothing.

Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?

Indeed, their altars will be heaps of stones

in the furrows of the field.

Jacob fled to the land of Aram

and Israel worked for a wife—

for a wife he tended sheep.

But by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt,

and by a prophet he was preserved.

Ephraim has provoked bitter anger,

so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt upon him

and repay him for his contempt.

Hosea 13

When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;

he was exalted in Israel.

But he incurred guilt through Baal,

and he died.

Now they sin more and more

and make for themselves cast images,

idols skillfully made from their silver,

all of them the work of craftsmen.

People say of them,

“They offer human sacrifice

and kiss the calves!”

Therefore they will be like the morning mist,

like the early dew that vanishes,

like chaff blown from a threshing floor,

like smoke through an open window.

Yet I am the LORD your God

ever since the land of Egypt;

you know no God but Me,

for there is no Savior besides Me.

I knew you in the wilderness,

in the land of drought.

When they had pasture,

they became satisfied;

when they were satisfied,

their hearts became proud,

and as a result they forgot Me.

So like a lion I will pounce on them;

like a leopard I will lurk by the path.

Like a bear robbed of her cubs I will attack them,

and I will tear open their chests.

There I will devour them like a lion,

like a wild beast would tear them apart.

You are destroyed, O Israel,

because you are against Me—

against your helper.

Where is your king now

to save you in all your cities,

and the rulers to whom you said,

“Give me a king and princes”?

So in My anger I gave you a king,

and in My wrath I took him away.

The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;

his sin is stored up.

Labor pains come upon him,

but he is an unwise son.

When the time arrives,

he fails to present himself at the opening of the womb.

I will ransom them from the power of Sheol;

I will redeem them from Death.

Where, O Death, are your plagues?

Where, O Sheol, is your sting?

Compassion is hidden from My eyes.

Although he flourishes among his brothers,

an east wind will come—

a wind from the LORD

rising up from the desert.

His fountain will fail,

and his spring will run dry.

The wind will plunder his treasury

of every precious article.

Samaria will bear her guilt

because she has rebelled against her God.

They will fall by the sword;

their little ones will be dashed to pieces,

and their pregnant women ripped open.

Hosea 14

Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God,

for you have stumbled by your iniquity.

Bring your confessions

and return to the LORD.

Say to Him: “Take away all our iniquity

and receive us graciously,

that we may present

the fruit of our lips.

Assyria will not save us,

nor will we ride on horses.

We will never again say, ‘Our gods!’

to the work of our own hands.

For in You the fatherless find compassion.”

I will heal their apostasy;

I will freely love them,

for My anger has turned away from them.

I will be like the dew to Israel;

he will blossom like the lily

and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.

His shoots will sprout,

and his splendor will be like the olive tree,

his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.

They will return and dwell in his shade;

they will grow grain and blossom like the vine.

His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

O Ephraim, what have I to do

anymore with idols?

It is I who answer and watch over him.

I am like a flourishing cypress;

your fruit comes from Me.

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;

whoever is discerning, let him know them.

For the ways of the LORD are right,

and the righteous walk in them

but the rebellious stumble in them.

God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute who remains unfaithful to him in the very first chapter of the book. They have kids together with miserable names. This maps onto political dynamics we recently covered in 2 Kings. Why was God so upset with them? How did he continue to love them? What does it have to do with us?

Hosea 1

This is the word of the LORD that came to Hosea son of Beeri in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and of Jeroboam son of Jehoash, king of Israel.

When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, He told him, “Go, take a prostitute as your wife and have children of adultery, because this land is flagrantly prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.”

So Hosea went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

Then the LORD said to Hosea, “Name him Jezreel, for soon I will bring the bloodshed of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel.

And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

Gomer again conceived and gave birth to a daughter, and the LORD said to Hosea, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I should ever forgive them.

Yet I will have compassion on the house of Judah, and I will save them—not by bow or sword or war, not by horses and cavalry, but by the LORD their God.”

After she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, Gomer conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people, and I am not your God.

Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’

Then the people of Judah and of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint for themselves one leader, and will go up out of the land. For great will be the day of Jezreel.

Hosea 2

“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’

and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’

Rebuke your mother,

rebuke her,

for she is not My wife,

and I am not her husband.

Let her remove the adultery from her face

and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.

Otherwise, I will strip her naked

and expose her like the day of her birth.

I will make her like a desert

and turn her into a parched land,

and I will let her die of thirst.

I will have no compassion on her children,

because they are the children of adultery.

For their mother has played the harlot

and has conceived them in disgrace.

For she thought,

‘I will go after my lovers,

who give me bread and water,

wool and linen, oil and drink.’

Therefore, behold,

I will hedge up her path with thorns;

I will enclose her with a wall,

so she cannot find her way.

She will pursue her lovers but not catch them;

she will seek them but not find them.

Then she will say,

‘I will return to my first husband,

for then I was better off than now.’

For she does not acknowledge

that it was I who gave her grain,

new wine, and oil,

who lavished on her silver and gold—

which they crafted for Baal.

Therefore I will take back My grain in its time

and My new wine in its season;

I will take away My wool and linen,

which were given to cover her nakedness.

And then I will expose her lewdness

in the sight of her lovers,

and no one will deliver her

out of My hands.

I will put an end to all her exultation:

her feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths—

all her appointed feasts.

I will destroy her vines and fig trees,

which she thinks are the wages paid by her lovers.

So I will make them into a thicket,

and the beasts of the field will devour them.

I will punish her for the days of the Baals

when she burned incense to them,

when she decked herself with rings and jewelry,

and went after her lovers.

But Me she forgot,”

declares the LORD.

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her

and lead her to the wilderness,

and speak to her tenderly.

There I will give back her vineyards

and make the Valley of Achor

into a gateway of hope.

There she will respond as she did

in the days of her youth,

as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

In that day,”

declares the LORD,

“you will call Me ‘my Husband,’

and no longer call Me ‘my Master.’

For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals;

no longer will their names be invoked.

On that day I will make a covenant for them

with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air

and the creatures that crawl on the ground.

And I will abolish bow and sword

and weapons of war in the land,

and will make them lie down in safety.

So I will betroth you to Me forever;

I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,

in loving devotion and compassion.

And I will betroth you in faithfulness,

and you will know the LORD.”

“On that day I will respond—”

declares the LORD—

“I will respond to the heavens,

and they will respond to the earth.

And the earth will respond to the grain,

to the new wine and oil,

and they will respond to Jezreel.

And I will sow her as My own in the land,

and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’

I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’

‘You are My people,’

and they will say,

‘You are my God.’ ”

Hosea 3

Then the LORD said to me, “Go show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and offer raisin cakes to idols.”

So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.

Then I said to her, “You must live with me for many days; you must not be promiscuous or belong to another, and I will do the same for you.”

For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol.

Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.

Hosea 4

Hear the word of the LORD,

O children of Israel,

for the LORD has a case

against the people of the land:

“There is no truth, no loving devotion,

and no knowledge of God in the land!

Cursing and lying,

murder and stealing,

and adultery are rampant;

one act of bloodshed follows another.

Therefore the land mourns,

and all who dwell in it will waste away

with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air;

even the fish of the sea disappear.

But let no man contend;

let no man offer reproof;

for your people are like those

who contend with a priest.

You will stumble by day,

and the prophet will stumble with you by night;

so I will destroy your mother—

My people are destroyed

for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I will also reject you as My priests.

Since you have forgotten the law of your God,

I will also forget your children.

The more they multiplied,

the more they sinned against Me;

they exchanged their Glory

for a thing of disgrace.

They feed on the sins of My people

and set their hearts on iniquity.

And it shall be

like people, like priest.

I will punish both of them for their ways

and repay them for their deeds.

They will eat but not be satisfied;

they will be promiscuous but not multiply.

For they have stopped obeying the LORD.

Promiscuity, wine, and new wine

take away understanding.

My people consult their wooden idols,

and their divining rods inform them.

For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray

and they have played the harlot against their God.

They sacrifice on the mountaintops

and burn offerings on the hills,

under oak, poplar, and terebinth,

because their shade is pleasant.

And so your daughters turn to prostitution

and your daughters-in-law to adultery.

I will not punish your daughters

when they prostitute themselves,

nor your daughters-in-law

when they commit adultery.

For the men themselves go off with prostitutes

and offer sacrifices with shrine prostitutes.

So a people without understanding

will come to ruin.

Though you prostitute yourself, O Israel,

may Judah avoid such guilt!

Do not journey to Gilgal,

do not go up to Beth-aven,

and do not swear on oath,

‘As surely as the LORD lives!’

For Israel is as obstinate

as a stubborn heifer.

Can the LORD now shepherd them

like lambs in an open meadow?

Ephraim is joined to idols;

leave him alone!

When their liquor is gone,

they turn to prostitution;

their rulers dearly love disgrace.

The whirlwind has wrapped them in its wings,

and their sacrifices will bring them shame.

Hosea 5

“Hear this, O priests!

Take heed, O house of Israel!

Give ear, O royal house!

For this judgment is against you

because you have been a snare at Mizpah,

a net spread out on Tabor.

The rebels are deep in slaughter;

but I will chastise them all.

I know all about Ephraim,

and Israel is not hidden from Me.

For now, O Ephraim,

you have turned to prostitution;

Israel is defiled.

Their deeds do not permit them

to return to their God,

for a spirit of prostitution is within them,

and they do not know the LORD.

Israel’s arrogance testifies against them;

Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;

even Judah stumbles with them.

They go with their flocks and herds

to seek the LORD,

but they do not find Him;

He has withdrawn Himself from them.

They have been unfaithful to the LORD;

for they have borne illegitimate children.

Now the New Moon will devour them

along with their land.

Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah,

the trumpet in Ramah;

raise the battle cry in Beth-aven:

Lead on, O Benjamin!

Ephraim will be laid waste

on the day of rebuke.

Among the tribes of Israel

I proclaim what is certain.

The princes of Judah

are like those who move boundary stones;

I will pour out My fury

upon them like water.

Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,

for he is determined to follow worthless idols.

So I am like a moth to Ephraim,

and like decay to the house of Judah.

When Ephraim saw his sickness

and Judah his wound,

then Ephraim turned to Assyria

and sent to the great king.

But he cannot cure you

or heal your wound.

For I am like a lion to Ephraim

and like a young lion to the house of Judah.

I, even I, will tear them to pieces

and then go away.

I will carry them off

where no one can rescue them.

Then I will return to My place

until they admit their guilt and seek My face;

in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”

Hosea 6

Come, let us return to the LORD.

For He has torn us to pieces,

but He will heal us;

He has wounded us,

but He will bind up our wounds.

After two days He will revive us;

on the third day He will raise us up,

that we may live in His presence.

So let us know—

let us press on to know the LORD.

As surely as the sun rises,

He will appear;

He will come to us like the rain,

like the spring showers that water the earth.

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim ?

What shall I do with you, O Judah?

For your loyalty is like a morning mist,

like the early dew that vanishes.

Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;

I have slain them by the words of My mouth,

and My judgments go forth like lightning.

For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,

and the knowledge of God

rather than burnt offerings.

But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant;

there they were unfaithful to Me.

Gilead is a city of evildoers,

tracked with footprints of blood.

Like raiders who lie in ambush,

so does a band of priests;

they murder on the way to Shechem;

surely they have committed atrocities.

In the house of Israel

I have seen a horrible thing:

Ephraim practices prostitution there,

and Israel is defiled.

Also for you, O Judah,

a harvest is appointed,

when I restore

My people from captivity.

Hosea 7

When I heal Israel,

the iniquity of Ephraim will be exposed,

as well as the crimes of Samaria.

For they practice deceit and thieves break in;

bandits raid in the streets.

But they fail to consider in their hearts

that I remember all their evil.

Now their deeds are all around them;

they are before My face.

They delight the king with their evil,

and the princes with their lies.

They are all adulterers,

like an oven heated by a baker

who needs not stoke the fire

from the kneading to the rising of the dough.

The princes are inflamed with wine

on the day of our king;

so he joins hands

with those who mock him.

For they prepare their heart like an oven

while they lie in wait;

all night their anger smolders;

in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

All of them are hot as an oven,

and they devour their rulers.

All their kings fall;

not one of them calls upon Me.

Ephraim mixes with the nations;

Ephraim is an unturned cake.

Foreigners consume his strength,

but he does not notice.

Even his hair is streaked with gray,

but he does not know.

Israel’s arrogance testifies against them,

yet they do not return to the LORD their God;

despite all this, they do not seek Him.

So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove—

calling out to Egypt, then turning to Assyria.

As they go, I will spread My net over them;

I will bring them down like birds of the air.

I will chastise them

when I hear them flocking together.

Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me!

Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against Me!

Though I would redeem them,

they speak lies against Me.

They do not cry out to Me from their hearts

when they wail upon their beds.

They slash themselves for grain and new wine,

but turn away from Me.

Although I trained and strengthened their arms,

they plot evil against Me.

They turn, but not to the Most High;

they are like a faulty bow.

Their leaders will fall by the sword

for the cursing of their tongue;

for this they will be ridiculed

in the land of Egypt.